10 ’80s movies that deserve a legacy sequel like ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’

In addition to being one of the best baseball movies of all time, “Bull Durham” is also a great rom-com and stars two of our most beloved living actors: Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. We’d kill to see them reunited on-screen as former minor league catcher Crash Davis and legendary baseball groupie Annie Savoy.

Baseball has changed so much since the ’80s — what do they think of America’s favorite pastime now? Are they still in touch with Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins)? Are they even still together? Making them a divorced couple could also be a fun touch.

We’ve heard about the “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” sequel/spin-off that seems to be happening, and to that we say: maybe check out “WarGames” instead.

The film focuses on teenage computer prodigy David Lightman (Broderick), who accidentally hacks into a supercomputer at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), and accidentally convinces the computer program that the Soviet Union will imminently declare nuclear war.

The dangers of artificial intelligence and the escalating threat of nuclear war have never been more pertinent than they are today. Let’s check in on David as an adult: Did he end up working for the government, and did he create something he’s now ashamed of, like Stephen Falken (John Wood) in the first film? Let’s find out.

Released in 1987, “The Lost Boys” was directed by the great Joel Schumacher and starred Jason Patric and Corey Haim as two brothers who move to Santa Clara, California, only to discover that the town is crawling with vampires, most notably David Powers (Sutherland).

The people behind the film were so sure that a sequel was coming that David notably didn’t explode or dissolve like other vampires did when they died; everyone wanted Sutherland back for “The Lost Girls,” which never happened.

If we dove back into the seedy underbelly of Santa Clara, what would it be like today? Has Patric’s character Michael become a skilled vampire hunter? Is he still with Star (Jami Gertz)?

A “new take” on the story starring Noah Jupe and Jaeden Martell was reported by The Hollywood Reporter in September 2021, but details are still under wraps.

“The Thing” is one of the most influential pieces of horror of the last 50 years. Focusing on a group of scientists and military personnel at a research base in Antarctica, things slowly start to spin out of control when they encounter an alien life form with the ability to silently absorb and imitate any living organism.

Spoilers for a 42-year-old movie, but “The Thing” ends with helicopter pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) and mechanic Childs (Keith David) slowly freezing to death after blowing up the Thing.

But what if they were rescued before they died? And what if they didn’t successfully get rid of the alien? Or, what if the aliens return after 42 years to finish what they started? All questions a sequel could answer.

There was a prequel released in 2011 focusing on the Norwegian research base we see members of in the first scene of “The Thing,” so maybe we could bring some of them back, too.

“Romancing the Stone” was released in 1984 and catapulted Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny DeVito into official movie stardom when it made $76 million in the US alone.

In the film, Turner plays Joan Wilder, a lonely romance novelist who gets drawn into a treasure hunt when she receives a mysterious map and a frantic call from her sister, who has been kidnapped in Colombia.

After a series of misadventures, she meets Jack (Douglas), an exotic bird smuggler and rogue, who decides to help her find the treasure and her sister (for a handsome fee, of course). You might have guessed it, but along the way, they fall in love.

A sequel, “The Jewel of the Nile,” was released in 1985, but a third film never happened. There have been attempts to reunite the gang or reboot the film with new actors, but nothing has ever materialized — however, after watching Douglas adeptly handle action in the “Ant-Man” films, we know he still has it in him for a cameo at the very least.